Following Footsteps
by xcgirl3
Summary: Meet Meredith's two younger sisters; Melanie and Madison. Can meredith help raise a 15 year old and be a surgeon? also regular stuff with other characters. Is not up with current season.
1. Reunion

(A/N) I changed the story around so chapter one is new and improved 

"All right interns gather around. We have a new intern, some of you might know her some of you may not, but that doesn't matter. I need you to show her the ropes around here; she's just out of med school and moved here from Boston. Ok? I got a 911 I got to go, this is Melanie Grey." Bailey stated to all the old interns. Bailey runs off and leaves a young girl who looks very nervous.

"Hey doesn't she look like someone to y-" Christina started to tell Izzie but was interrupted by Meredith.

"Oh my gosh! Melanie?! I haven't seen you in like…"

"Five years…yeah it's been a long time."

"hhhem, ummm… yeah still not getting the connection of how you two know each other." Christina said.

"Oh! Sorry, everyone this is my little sister Melanie. Melanie these are the other interns. This is Christina, Izzie, George, and Karev or Alex whatever you want to call him.

"Nice to meet you all." Melanie says politely

"And nice to meet you too maybe we could hook up sometime you know just-" Karev started

"Yeah I don't see it happening," Melanie said cutting him off.

**BEEP BEEP**

"Oh, sorry that's me I got to go!" Izzie explained

"Oh man me too, sorry" George apologized as he ran off.

"Karev don't you have somewhere to be like with the she-Shepard or something down at the gynecology unit?" Christina asked.

"Bite me."

"Well, I'll just leave you two to catch up since you are the ONLY ones on break!" Christina said as she strolled off to do some lab work.

"So those are the people I'm going to be spending the next six years of my life with? Wow, they're interesting." Melanie said looking around.

"Yeah, they're pretty awesome, hey I'm pretty hungry and since there is too much to talk about then we cant sleep so lets eat," Meredith says as she walks down to the cafeteria.

When they finally sit down with their food, Meredith starts asking questions.

"So, how's Maddie?"

"You remember Madison?! Wow!"

"Ha Ha," Meredith's voice with sarcasm, "of course I remember my baby sister, well she's probably not so much a little girl anymore. Gosh, I've missed you guys so much, so tell me what's going on with her."

"Well since mom is, well where she is, I've been taking care of her. She's fifteen, almost sixteen as she keeps reminding me, in high school and will be going into college then med school to become a surgeon, big surprise, huh?"

"15, wow time really has gone by."

"Yeah, but she's coming by in a little while, and she can't wait to see you again."

"I can't wait either! So where are ya'll staying?" Meredith asks while stabbing her salad with her fork.

"We just got an apartment near here, and we're just waiting to move in."

"Well…..you could stay with me."

"What?"

"Yeah, I'm in Mom's house. It's just me, Izzie, and George."

"Just you, Izzie, and George? Mer that's three people! Four of which are doctors and Madison is fifteen she's a teenager, and sometimes hard to handle."

"No! we have room. It's a five bedroom house remember? Come on, please? I haven't seen you in forever and I need to make up for lost time."

"I don't know Meredith; I mean I'm taking care of Maddie…"

"She's 15! And I want to help you I mean I am the oldest I guess I should start acting that way, I wasn't fair to you to do it all by yourself, now I want to help."

"But Meredith, she's fifteen even though she's like a genius and some people expect her to be so mature, she's still a 15 year old who will experience with all kinds of teenage stuff. Don't you remember being a teenager?"

"I don't care; I want to be there to help."

"You don't take no for an answer do you? Ok, I guess we could move in," Melanie says after much dismay.

"Great!" Meredith squeals and gets up to hug her younger sister.

"Mel?" Mel turns around and sees he baby of the family.

"Oh, hey Maddie, I didn't know you'd be here so soon."

"Hey Maddie," Meredith whispers as she pulls her into a hug.

"Oh my gosh, I've missed you so much," Maddie cries.

"Same here kiddo."

They stay like that for a minute before Melanie breaks the silence.

"Hey Madison guess what? Instead of living in that crappy apartment we're going to move in with Meredith."

"Seriously? All right!" Maddie squeals with delight.

**BEEP BEEP**

"Hey Maddie we'll be back in a little while, get something to eat and hang out wherever. Come on Mel; follow me it's a 911." Meredith says as she sprints off down the hallway with Melanie close behind.


	2. just a little fun around SGH

Disclaimer: don't even make me say it…

(A/N:) Guess I'm continuing…review 

Chapter Two

"Is this one of your patients?" Melanie asks while both of them are running.

"Yeah, his name is Hudson Graham, a 67 year old man who likes to see interns run. Hopefully this is real or else we just burned of 30 calories for nothing."

Meredith and Melanie come to a stop outside room 33C. They scan around the room and see that everything is fine. Melanie sees an elderly looking man reading a magazine and looking very content.

"Ahhh Meredith, my favorite intern, I'm so happy it was you that they paged." Hudson says happily, and obviously bored.

"Mr. Graham, you REALLY can't do this any more. How did you get them to page me?" Meredith asks a little bit angrily.

"Oh Meredith don't get so upset, I just needed a little company. I'm sorry, it won't happen again. Now who is this pretty lady?" Mr. Graham asks while pointing at Melanie.

"This is my sister Melanie; she is also a surgical intern here."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you Melanie, but if you girls don't mind I need my rest."

"You drag us up here to ask us to leave. Nice Mr. Graham, see you around." Meredith says.

"Well that was fun," Melanie says sarcastically.

"Yep, get use to it."

Meredith and Melanie slowly make their way back to cafeteria. They find Madison arguing with the cashier.

"No! I gave you ten dollars! My food was 5.67, come on you have a calculator right there! My change should be 4.33 not 2.33!"

"No, you got a large drink and combo meal that would be 6.67." the cashier replied.

"Is there a problem Whittaker?" Meredith said stepping in. "Because you KNOW you are one of my favorite workers here at the beloved Seattle Grace Hospital Cafeteria, and you KNOW if you deny my sister her correct amount of change your reputation might just change."

"Oh, sister? Hah I didn't know that! Here you go, 4.33 in change." Whittaker said very nervously.

"Thank you Whitt, have an awesome day." Meredith said smiling.

"Geez it's like the Surgeon Mafia. I got to get in," Madison says jokingly.

"Haha, eat your food and then we are moving you in to the house!" Meredith says.

"Yes!! No more shitty apartment!" Madison says while doing a little dance.

"Hey Madi, watch your lang-" Meredith and Melanie start.

"Nope, believe it or not you can not do that today! Terribly sorry, but today is the best day of my life and I will cuss up a storm if I want to. Hell yeah!" Madison says while skipping out of the hospital, her Chinese food in her hand.

Meredith just laughs.

"Maybe this will work out." Meredith thinks. "Maybe we can become a family again."


	3. A good cry,karev, and the next surgeon

Guess I'm going to post faster than I thought

(A/N: ) Sorry the last one was short. I'll try to make this one longer 

Thank you to xcharmed11x for reviewing.

Chapter 3

Meredith silently put the key in the lock and turned. As soon as she opened the door she almost fell over. Madison pushed past her to inside and ran upstairs.

"Yes! I am back! I love this house! WHOO HOO!!!" Madison screamed from upstairs.

"Well, I don't think Madison will have any trouble adjusting." Melanie says as she sits down on the stool in the kitchen.

"Yeah, it will be good. I really want to make up for lost time. Do you want a cookie, muffin, or brownie? Or let's see we have some cake too." Meredith asks as she fumbles around in the kitchen.

"Wow, someone's PMSing," Melanie states.

"Hah no, Izzie bakes, well as you can tell she bakes a lot. It happens when she depressed." Meredith thinks for a second. "Or happy… or really whatever kind of mood she is in. Anyway she just bakes all the time, and frankly I'm not complaining."

"I wouldn't be either. So what do you guys do around here?" Melanie asks as she stuffs a brownie into her mouth.

"Well, being at home doing nothing, like this, is VERY rare. Don't count on a lot of moments like these. But really we mostly relax and be lazy as much as possible. Movie nights are regular, and so are 'let's just go home and sleep nights' but we'll have fun don't worry."

"Oh I'm sure it will be good, I am glad we can do this, you know, me, you and Maddie. It'll be good for us."

"Yeah it will."

"How about we get the youngest down here to go over some stuff?" Meredith asks.

"Hah good luck getting her down here." Melanie laughs while walking into the living room.

"Madison! Maddie come downstairs!" Meredith calls but gets no answer. "Maddie come one, we need to talk about some stuff!" Meredith walks upstairs and starts looking in the rooms. "Maddie I don't have time for this, Madison!" Meredith opens the last door, her mom's room. "Madison." Meredith cries. Madison is lying down on the bed, the comforter wrapped around her. She is crying softly, and tries to wipe away a tear but drops what she is clutching. Meredith picks up the picture frame of Ellis Grey with her three daughters. Meredith, a teenager, was standing next to Ellis, her hands on Melanie, who looked about ten, who held Madison. "Wow, I forgot about this picture." Meredith says softly. "Oh Madison, please stop crying. What's wrong? You know you can tell me."

"Why Meredith? Why is she gone?" Madison asks as she buries her face into the pillow.

"Maddie you know she not gone."

"Yes Mer, she practically is. She is living in a home! She doesn't even know who I am! She doesn't know who I am who you are or Melanie, she's gone! She's forgotten who we are!"

"Madison." Meredith starts.

"Just why?"

Meredith could not stand to see her sister like this, her baby sister. The one she always tried to protect. Of all three girls Madison was probably the one that took their mother's Alzheimer's the best. When they found out her face did not change at all. Why is this happening now?

"Madison, look at me." Meredith says, but Madison does nothing. "Look at me! I know this is hard Maddie, not having a mom, but you have two older sisters who would do just about anything for you. You know that don't you? We would kill for you Maddie, you really are our world. I know, really I know how hard it is but we are here. We'll be our own family. We're in this together right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Madison replies.

"Ok how about this after dinner we can look at old photo albums, I have so many around her. How would that be?"

"Ok."

"Ok, let's go downstairs; Melanie probably thinks we ran away."

"Thank you Meredith, I love you."

"Aww I love you too kiddo. Come on lets go, I think Izzie and George are home."

"Oh really? That's hilarious!" Meredith hears as her and Maddie come down stairs.

"Yeah, and that wasn't even the best part! She then had to go to the principal's and explain what happened!" Melanie says to George and Izzie.

"Oh great, what embarrassing story are you telling of me now?" Meredith asks.

"The one where you fell asleep in class and started screaming, 'Scalpel! Scalpel! Where's the damn scalpel?' Oh yeah it was defiantly a story to remember." Melanie says are Meredith watches Izzie and George laugh uncontrollably.

"But the really funny thing," Melanie continues, "Is that she was seven, and damn wasn't really one of her classes vocabulary words."

"Ahhm…"

"Oh George, Izzie, this is Madison, my other sister." Meredith says.

"It's nice to meet you." Madison says shyly.

"Yeah, you too. Well Meredith, do you have another sibling you're not telling us about?" Izzie asks jokingly.

"Nope, only these two."

"Good, because I cant handle another girl in this house!" George says.

"Aww Georgie! You love us…" Izzie says in her baby voice. "Hey lets have a movie night tonight!" Izzie exclaims jumping off the counter.

"ADD," Maddie whispers.

"Oh be quiet," Meredith replies.

"See what did I tell you? Movie nights are regulars," Meredith whispered to Melanie.

The four girls settled on the couch while George popped in 'Radio.' Everyone had a great time throwing popcorn and other random foods, much to Meredith's dismay, but finally settled down during the middle of the movie.

"Mere?" Madison whispered.

"Yeah baby girl?"

"I'm tired."

"Ok why don't you lie down?"

Madison then resituated herself and lay back down in Meredith's lap.

"Hey," Meredith thought, "Maybe this won't be so hard."

"Maddie, hey Madison. Wake up."

Madison awoke to someone gently shaking her.

"What time is it?" She asked.

"5:30. Come on we have to go to the hospital."

Madison finally opened her eyes and stared into the face of Melanie.

"I was sort of hoping to see Brad Pitt, not you."

"You wanted Brad Pitt to wake you up to go to the hospital?"

"Uggg…Do I have to go?" Madison asked.

"Yes."

"Why?" Madison asked simply, while not moving at all.

"Madison! Stop being so difficult. You have to because there is no school till next week, and it's too boring to stay here all day."

Madison finally got up and got ready to go.

"Need…Coffee…."Madison said as she zombie liked walked into the kitchen.

"Someone's not an early bird." A voice said that was unfamiliar to Madison. She looked up and saw a really hott guy standing there. "Name's Karev, but you can call me Alex." Alex said obviously flirting.

"My name is Madison."

"Well, Madison why don't you and I…"Karev started.

"Yeah dude I'm fifteen."

"Damn."

"Yep, so where's Meredith?"

"Are you one of her sisters?"

"Yes…."

"Why Alex? I mean, what is it with you and the Grey Sisters? Do all of us have to turn you down before you finally get the message?" Melanie asked as she poured her and Madison a cup of coffee.

"I guess so."

"That doesn't say a lot about yourself, now does it?"

"No, I guess not, hey-"

"Alright children, let's go!" Meredith yelled, grabbing hey coat and keys and walking out the door.

When they got to the hospital everyone went their separate ways.

"Melanie!" Melanie winced as The Nazi came up from behind her. "Go run these to the labs and then get to work on your rounds.

"Alright Dr. Bailey."

"Who is this?" Bailey asked bluntly referring to Madison.

"Oh, this is Madison, mine and Meredith's younger sister."

"It's nice to meet you Dr. Bailey," Meredith said politely.

"Hmmmm. Don't get in the way," Bailey said as she walked off.

"What a pleasant, pleasant woman." Maddie said to Melanie.

"Ok, let's go."

Eventually Melanie and Madison found themselves in room 23B with Alex and Bailey.

"Now Karev what would you say is wrong with Miss Williamson?" Bailey asks impatiently.

"Well, umm… actually, well, looking at her chart and I…"

"Her pupils are dilated, and she has severe headaches that have radiated into her neck." This answer surprisingly came from Madison who was looking closely at Miss Williamson.

"And how would you diagnose?" Bailey asked, also surprised.

"Well, it could just be severe headaches but her symptoms look too severe to be just that. I would say she has a brain aneurysm."

"And what can aneurysms do untreated?"

"They can cause a stroke or the patient could hemorrhage."

"Very good, and how will you find out for sure it's an aneurysm?"

"Do a CT scan and MRI." Madison answered slowly.

"Well, well, well, looks like we have another future surgeon from the Grey family. Karev do what she says."

"Now I'm taking orders from a teenager? Oh come on!" Karev said, pissed that he didn't know the answer.

"She knew the answer!"Bailey says as she starts to walk out. "Oh and Madison, welcome to the game."


	4. MGLB

A/N: I started this story around season 2 so no present season plots/character changes will be in it right now i.e- George dying, Lexie, Izzie cancer stuff. I might just go back and rewrite it to fit the current season...tell me what you think about that....but right now I'm just updating. Thanks for reading and reviews much appreciated. Also I think from this point on I'm going to make the story entirely in Meredith's point of view.

"Grey, Yang, Karev and Stevens I need you down at the pit now. There are five school shooting victims coming in and they will need surgery."

School shooting. Every time I hear that word now I get a little scared. Yeah I would hear about a local school shooting or some kind of threat and it's bad I get that but a local school shooting now-a local school shooting that could possibly be at my baby sister's school? That definitely scares the shit out of me. It shouldn't right? What are the chances? But it does and as we run down to the pit I pray that Madison is no where to be seen.

The first ambulence pulls up and the doors bust open.

"What do we got?"

" Tyler Keller, Eighteen year old male, one shot to the upper chest, one to the lower abdomen. Bleeding has been stabilized."

"I'll take him!" I hear Christina shout.

I look over at the teen and see him attempting to talk.

"Don't try to talk right now. Concentrate on breathing." I shout as Christina runs with the EMT who wheels him away. Two more ambulances pull up and the four of us wait anxiously.

"Katie Butler, sixteen year old female, bullet went through the right bicep."

"Eh yours."

"Alex!" I give him a disgusted look and turn to wheel Katie away.

"Madison Grey, fifteen year old female, one shot to lower abdomen, one shot to right shoulder."

I stop running and turn around at my sister's name.

"Meredith! Meredith! You need to take Katie inside. She needs surgery NOW. Meredith!" I hear Dr. Bailey yell but my body has immobilized.

"I'll take her." Izzie comes to my rescue. I do nothing but stand there as Katie and my sister are wheeled past me and then my senses kick back in. I start running beside the EMT wheeling my sister.

"What happened?" I yelled.

"Two crazy teens opened fire on their cafeteria this morning. Most got out safely but these five weren't so lucky."

Two more people were wheeled in behind us.

"Okay more critical cases need OR preference. Grey take Madison to OR 1, Yang should be in 2 and O' Malley take the brain bullet to 3. Shepard has rescheduled his craniotomy and should already be in there."

This isn't happening. This is not happening. My sister is bleeding and lying on a gurney below me. I finally get her into OR 1 but don't let my breath out yet.

"Grey you need to leave now."

"What? Dr. Burke this is my sister I need to be here!"

"I'm aware this is your sister Dr. Grey and because of that you need to leave. Now."

Seriously? I stalk out of the OR and practically run into Melanie. I start to cry when she looks up at me with her swollen face and red watery eyes.

"Mer?"

"It's her. She's...She's stabilized. She's in surgery now but Burke kicked me out."

"What?!"

"We just need to...we need to wait."

Exhaustion was taking over my body. How could this be happening right now? Her school had 3,000. 3,000 students and my little sister was one of the five that were shot. I sink down to the floor and start feel tears run down my face. I squeeze my eyes trying to get the last one to fall but it's not point they keep coming. Melanie sits beside me and is silent.

"Meredith?"

I look up into watery eyes once again. Blue eyes staring me in the face.

"Derek. I thought you were in surgery with the boy who had the bullet in the brain."

"We lost him." He says, emotion drained from his voice. "Too much bleeding. How's it going? How is she?"

"I don't know. Burke won't let me in."

"...You want to watch from the galley?"

"...No.

Derek sits down to my left side and embraces me and whispers in my ear.

"It'll be okay. She'll be okay. She's so strong."

I bring my head up to face him.

"...I'm scared."

"I know, I know. It's going to be okay."

We sit like this for hours-me holding Melanie's hand, Derek holding me. Finally I hear the door open and Dr. Burke steps out. We immediately stand and wait for my sister's condition.

"She's stable. We restabilized the artery nicked in the right shoulder and the abdomen damage was solely internal bleeding. Thankfully no severe damage to any organs." He takes off his cap and rubs his eyes. "She's strong yes, but she will be extremely weak and in and out these next few days. They're taking her to ICU now."

I turn and walk as fast as I can without feeling light headed. Derek and Melanie are right behind me as we make our way to ICU. I gasp when I see Madison on her bed. I shouldn't really, I'm a surgeon, I see much worse than a wrapped up shoulder and stomach but it is my sister's wrapped up shoulder and stomach. I go into her room and take her right hand while Melanie takes her left.

"Hey baby girl. Time to wake up now. Please. Please. Please." I whisper and wait for her to acknowledge our presence.

"Mer."I barely hear her croak.

"Oh my gosh. Thank God." Melanie and I both start to cry again as I watch Madison's eyes open.

"Mer.... Where's...Lucas?"

My heart stops. Lucas...Lucas Brandon....was he brought in? Was my sister's best friend shot as well?

I turn towards Derek and his face confirms my theory. Oh my gosh. My sister's best friend just died from a bullet in the brain.

"Sweetheart, I'll be right back okay? I've been with you this whole time and I didn't know he was brought in."

"I think he was shot Mer...like...really...badly."

"I'll see okay?" I shoot Melanie a face that says I'll fill her in later. I wait till I'm out of their seeing distance to grab Derek's arm and ask him.

"Derek please. Please do not tell me you operated on Lucas Brandon."

"Meredith, he...I couldn't have..."

"That is her best friend!" I sigh and let the shock wash over me. "Her best friend was shot in the head and died. What do I tell her? The first thing she asked about was Lucas and he's...he's dead? I can't do this." I turn to walk away. Walk outside, walk to a room, just be anywhere but here. Before I could run Derek grabbed my arm

"Meredith there was nothing I could do. They thought the bullet just skimmed his frontal lobe but it went deeper than that...there was just too much bleeding. But you are not going anywhere besides back into room 32C and you have to tell her Meredith."

"You do it. You're the one that killed him."

I shouldn't have said it. I shouldn't have. But I did.

"You're upset and you're pushing away. I don't care though. I will not have you put this one me Meredith. I won't."

I take a deep breathe and look up at Derek.

"This will kill her. I need to wait."

"Meredith..."

"I'm going to wait until tomorrow. She needs a day to rest. I'm waiting until tomorrow."

We walk back into the room and I let out a deep breath when I see Madison asleep in her bed. She looks so young, so innocent, so peaceful but part of her life was taken away from her today.

"I have to go. Sloan needs my help on the girl with the bullet through her arm."

"Okay."

"Mer...it'll be alright, okay?"

He leans down and pecks my on the cheek then leaves the room.

I scoot my chair closer to Madison's bed and stare at her face. Melanie's voice takes me from my thoughts.

"He's dead isn't he?"

"Yeah. He's dead."


	5. No She's Not Fine

It's been two days. Two days since my sister was brought in with two bullets inside her. I told her yesterday. Yesterday I told her that her best friend had died. I look at her sleeping now. She has a frown etched on her face and her eyebrows are scrunched up. She needs to rest. I was scared to tell her; scared that the trauma of the news were make her worse but with the pushing of Derek and Mel I finally did. She didn't cried a lot. I mean not as much as someone normally would when they lost someone they loved. She's like me in that aspect and I hate it I wish she could show her emotions but it's not going to happen. I'm interrupted of my thoughts by Madison's voice.

"Mer...could you get me something to eat? I'm starved."

I hesitate. "Sure sweetie. I'll get you something then I have to do my rounds so Melanie will be in here okay?"

"Yeah that's fine."

I slowly walk out of the room hoping Madison will call out. Call out to me and say anything about Lucas, anything at all. But of course she doesn't and I slowly make my way to the cafeteria. I push the elevator button and look inside it when I hear the ding.

"Hi."

Typical. An empty elevator except for the dark curly haired neurosurgeon.

"Hi."

"How is she? I was actually going to go visit right now."

"She's fine I guess. She's not talking to me. Don't go now I think she needs some time to herself."

"Okay I'll stop by later....And how are you?"

"I'm fine."

"Meredith."

I look into his face. How hypocritical am I? I desperately want Madison to open up but can't do the same thing.

"Really Derek. I'll be fine."

"Well, I'm sure you will be. But how are you now?"

"...I'm horrible. My sister is recovering from two bullet shots, her very best friend has died from a bullet in the brain and she will not say anything about it. Nothing."

"Well, you know where she gets that from. She'll open up she just needs some time. She's just like you Meredith and she'll pull through."

"Yeah-" I'm interrupted by the elevator doors opening. "I have to get the broody teen some food. I'll see you later."

* * *

I pick up some light food and drop it off in Madison's room. I stay and wait for Melanie to come. I can tell Madison doesn't really want to be alone but no way in hell will she say it.

"Hey, how's she doing?"

"Same as yesterday. Burke cleared her to go home tomorrow so I'm going to take tomorrow off."

"You sure? You've been with her a lot. I can if you want to you know if you want a break."

"No, it's fine really. I have to go do my rounds I'll come by later." I start to walk away when Melanie's voice stops me.

"Meredith we'll get through this right? I mean all three of us, we will right?"

It kills me to see her afraid but the truth is I have no idea if we'll get through this. So I simply walk over to my sister and wrap my arms around her.

"Don't worry Melanie. It will all be okay eventually." I give her a quick kiss on the forehead and walk away.

* * *

"Grey, I have something for you."

I look up to see Derek and grin. A surgery is what I need. A medical mystery is what I need. Blood. Scalpels. Surgery.

"What do you have?"

"Brooke McCoy, a thirty-eight year old woman has recently slipped into a coma. She came in with terrible migraines and mood swings and we eventually diagnosed her with encephalitis. However the swelling of her brain does not necessarily explain her quick induced coma."

"So what do you think is going on?"

"Well, take a look at her CAT scans." Derek hands me the films and waits for me to make my analysis.

"It looks like there's a cyst....on her ovary."

"The cyst is a teratoma."

"Teratoma?"

"An encapsulated tumor with tissue or organ components resembling normal derivatives of all three germ layers....It has teeth and hair growing on it."

"Okay but what does the cyst have to do with the swelling of her brain?"

"That's what I need your help on. I need you to research, do anything you can to find similar cases like this one. I want this woman awake and I want her awake soon."

"Okay I'm on it."

Cyst on ovary. Teratoma on ovary. Brain swollen. Woman in coma. Make the connection. Make the connection. I desperately need a distraction form Madison and this was it. I think Derek knew that too. I need some quiet and a computer. I log on and quickly start my research. Of course there are a million cases of teratoma removals but no cases like Brooke's. I research for three hours and finally take a break. This has to be just staring at me right in the face. What am I missing?

"Hey how's it going?" I look up at Christina and give her a face. "That good huh?"

"I can't figure it out and I know it's something simple...What am I missing?"

"Ah I have no idea. I asked everyone else too, and I really wanted in on this surgery it's a medical mystery."

I frown. "Yeah I'm aware. I wanted on this as a distraction and if I can't figure it out then it's not doing it's distracting job!"

"Calm down Mer you'll get it."

We both hear the beeps and she glances at her pager.

"It's Burke for a 911. Got to go. Good luck!"

"Yeah yeah yeah thanks a lot."

I turn back to "researching", also known as absentmindedly staring at the cyst causing me all this angst.

"How's it going?" I'm thankfully interrupted by Derek but sadly gave him nothing new.

"There's nothing in the computer that explains her coma. I know it Derek I just can't think. It has to be something obvious."

"Maybe it's not. Maybe it's just a medical mystery and might remain that way. We might have to do an experimental surgery to find things out. We'll look at her brain and see-"

"No! That's it. It's not her brain we need to be looking at. It's simple. It started with the cyst; it will end with the cyst. Is it possible the teratoma could be generating brain cells along with the hair and teeth?"

"Yes...It is possible."

"It's simple. Think about it. Brain cells are being made and the immune system doesn't recognize them; they're foreign. Could the antibodies be attacking not only the growing brain cells in the cyst but also her brain?"

Derek grins at me and kisses me on the lips.

"You're wonderful."

"You're kissing me. You just kissed me."

"Meredith come on. Addison has left and I think it's time you just give up and be with me."

"Derek."

I sigh. A relationship right now is not what I want. Harmless sex maybe but not a relationship.

"Meredith." He says mocking me.

"We're not doing this right. We're going to go save a life."

"Right." He says giving me a wink. Ugh. This was not good.

"So what are we doing with Ms. McCoy?"

"Well, if you're right, and I think you are, then we are going to go in, remove the right ovary, the one that has the cyst, and hopefully the procedure will bring her out of the coma."

"Great. I think this is going to work I really do."

"Meredith, seriously, good work."

"Thank you Dr. Shepherd." I grab Ms. McCoy's charts and file and let him follow me out of the room.

* * *

"You're going to remove her ovary?" The young teen looks into our faces with fear. "Will it make her wake up?"

"Right now your mom is a medical mystery with the coma but Dr. Grey thinks, and I agree, that removing the ovary will help your mother. There is a very high chance she will wake up but keep in mind Abby there is a high chance she will not. Right now this is our best option."

"Okay. Okay Dr. Shepherd."

"Abby sweetie is there someone you can call while she's in surgery? Maybe an aunt?" I don't want her staying be herself.

"No, there's no one. It's fine, really Dr. Grey, just please help her wake up."

I give her a smile and follow Derek out of the room.

"Her surgery is for 8:00 tonight."

"Okay I'll be with Madison until then. I'll see you in the OR."

"Meredith...think about what I said."

"See you at 8:00 Dr. Shepherd."

* * *

I enter 32C to find my baby sister asleep once again.

"Has she been sleeping all day?"

"Yeah. I think she's sleeping this much so she doesn't have to talk."

"Well, what are you doing tonight?"

"I'm on call...how about you? How did your cyst lady turn out?"

I grin, excited about my discovery. "We're operating at 8:00 and taking out her left ovary."

"For her coma?"

"Yep. I think the teratoma is creating its own brain cells and is tricking her immune system."

"Hmm...so there's nothing for sure?"

"Nope but I have a good feeling about this. We'll see after the surgery."

"You needed this huh Mer?"

"Yeah. I did."

* * *

"Okay everyone, it's a beautiful night to save a life. Let's get started."

I am nervous and excited as I watch Derek work to remove the ovary.

"Okay Grey watch as a open up the abdomen and clamp and tie the blood vessels that supply the ovaries. Your turn."

"Dr. Shepherd?"

"Go ahead. You've seen it now do it. Remove the ovary."

I feel my blood rushing as start to remove the ovary from Ms. McCoy's abdomen. I could be saving her life right now. After this surgery she could very well wake up.

"Very good Dr. Grey. Excellent removal. Go ahead and sew up the abdominal muscles and then stitch up the incision area."

"Thank you Dr. Shepherd."

* * *

I fall down into a chair by Derek outside Ms. McCoy's room.

"She's not awake."

"Meredith she's been in a coma for three months. It takes time, we just have to wait."

"I hate waiting."

"I know you do. Go ahead to Maddie's room. I'll page you if anything happens."

"...Okay."

I make my way back to my surprisingly awake sister's room.

"Hey you're awake."

"Yeah."

"Well, I just finished removing an ovary for this woman to wake up out of her coma."

Usually at the mention of any of these words Madison would perk up and want to know all the details so I was disappointed to hear her "Cool." reply.

"Yeah it was cool." I try looking into her face but she immediately looks down. "So you're finally getting out tomorrow."

"Seriously?" Finally a little excitement.

"Yeah I'm taking the day off and you're going back home."

"Good. That's good.'

"Yeah...Maddie you can talk to me you know." I hesitantly say while waiting hopefully for an "Ok". No such luck.

"I'm tired Meredith I think I'm going to go to sleep."

I sigh and raise out of my chair to say good night.

"Okay sweetheart," I whisper and kiss her cheek, "I'll see you in the morning."

I walk outside the room to find Derek for an update but conveniently my beeper went off. I run up to Ms. McCoy's room and find her talking to her daughter and Derek. It takes all my energy to contain my excitement and I just walk into the room smiling.

"Very good to see you awake ."

"Yes, Ms. McCoy this is the doctor who saved your life. I thought you'd want to meet her."

"Nice to meet you Dr. Grey. You have no idea how thankful I am." I try not to tear up as I watch her break down and start to cry. "You gave me my life back. I am so grateful." She continues to cry and hugs her daughter as Derek and I quietly leave the room.

"You did amazing today Meredith."

"Not too bad yourself Dr. Shepherd."

"I'm going to wait for you. No matter how long it takes, I'll wait."

"Good to know. See you tomorrow Dr. Shepherd." I smile and walk towards Melanie by the Nurse's Station.

"What was that all about?" She asked while giving me a look.

"Oh you know the usual Derek loves me and is waiting for me forever."

"Meredith when are you just going to go out with him again?"

"Hey! A girl can take her time. I'm not making any decisions lightly. I have you to think about and Madison and my job."

"Don't use us as excuses."

I look at Melanie to see a joking face but she's completely serious.

"You love him Meredith. I know you do. You're just scared he's going to like someone else again and if you wait long enough he will."

Damn. I hate it whenever my younger sisters are right.

"Well, thank you old wise one."

"Hey I'm just trying to help."

"I know. I know. I just want to think about it a little while longer. You're on call tonight right?"

"Yep."

"Okay I'm going to go try and sleep then. I'll be in Maddie's room."

* * *

I walk into my youngest sisters room and see her sleeping.

"You're going to have to talk eventually Madison."

I lay down on the couch, pull the blankets over myself and try to get some much needed sleep.

"I'm scared Meredith." I shoot straight up and look up to see my sister awake and crying. "I'm so scared. I'm scared to be without him. I can't be without him."

She is finally talking but is talking like Lucas was more than her best friend.

"Madison..." She just nods her head quickly as if to answer my "more than friends" question. "Oh sweetheart it's okay. It'll be okay....I promise."

"It won't be okay Meredith! I loved him and he's gone! He's gone!"

I shush her and try calming her down. "Sweetie it'll be okay, you'll be okay. Just let it all out."

"I'm scared Meredith. I'm scared."

She continued to cry and finally her shouts turned more into mumbles. I let her calm herself down and waited until the crying stopped and she fell asleep in my arms.

"It'll all be okay. I promise." I whisper before raising myself off of the bed. Unfortunately the promise was hollow and it was one I knew I couldn't keep.


End file.
